Disrupting the 'boys don't read' discourse: Primary school boys wholovereading fiction

Abstract

This article disrupts dominant discourses around boys and reading that often homogenise young males as reluctant, disengaged and, at times, adversarial readers. Rather than essentialising boys, we argue there is a need for a more sophisticated knowledge base about the influences, constraints and diverse experiences of boys as readers in society today. Drawing on interviews (n = 30) with Year 4 (8 to 9-year-old) boys at six schools, we consider their personal recounts of their enjoyment in reading, their preferred reading choices and narratives related to their experiences as readers at school. Analysis highlights boys' emerging reading interests, sophisticated and specific reading preferences, and changes in reading identities over time. Boys' preferences for particular fiction authors, novel series and genres dispute the common assumption in educational contexts that boys prefer to engage with non-fiction books. This finding is significant, as negative gendered stereotypes can impact on boys' reading self-concepts. It is also critical given Jerrim and Moss's recent research highlighting the importance of fiction in the development of reading skills. We consider implications for pedagogical practices that broaden reading experiences for the diversity of emerging masculine reading identities in nations such as Australia, where there is an absence of reading for pleasure in education policies.

Year 3 boys’ and girls’ enjoyment for reading across economic demographics in Australia. Implications for boys and students from lower SES communities

“…An unexpected finding was the way fiction was the most favoured genre for boys in contrast to ongoing claims that boys prefer non-fiction (OECD 2015). In this way findings support the work of others who contest the myth that boys only read and prefer non-fiction (Coles and Hall 2002;Merga 2017;Moss 2018;Scholes, Spina, and Comber 2021).…”

“…Findings challenge the myth that boy's prefer non-fiction. A key point to note here is that we may well have underestimated the range of boys' reading preferences (Scholes, Spina, and Comber 2021). This requires further investigation and in-depth exploration of boy's reading identities, specific reading preferences, and personal experiences as readers across socioeconomic locations.…”

“…This social perspective also means that students have diverse interests related to their everyday lives that are not necessarily captured by the non-fiction boy bait reading options often provided for boys. Developing sustained engagement with reading that is socially and culturally relevant for boys and girls may include looking closely at alignments between valued home practices, student interest (Scholes, Spina, and Comber 2021) and school reading programs.…”